Duterte's critics want to be dictators, says Alvarez

RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

President Rodrigo Duterte speaks with House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez in this photo taken at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, September 19, 2017. Ace Morandante, Malacañang Photo

MANILA - House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday defended President Rodrigo Duterte's admission of being a dictator and alleged that the chief executive's critics are the ones who are really acting as despots.

Duterte on Thursday said he had to be a dictator to put the country in order.

(The President does not want to listen to them. He doesn't want them to be dictators.)

Opposition lawmaker Tom Villarin, however, said the President's recent pronouncement is only a confirmation of his true nature.

“The admission by President Duterte of being a dictator confirms all along what he is doing since day one of his administration," he said.

"Dictators bring down a country, bring pain and untold sufferings to people and the children who will have a traumatized future. And this is no joke nor a trivial matter that can be spinned by Malacanang."